Well, I officially made it through my first week of Muay Thai training! It wasn’t technically a full week, because there was no training on Thursday. On Thursday, the whole country of Thailand was practically shutdown due to a special ceremony for the cremation of the former King of Thailand. He died at some point last year and this day had been picked as the official ceremony day. 7/11 wasn’t even open. Some people have asked me if this meant that there would be political unrest and a struggle for power. Don’t worry, the son of the former King has been peacefully ruling since. So nothing to worry about there!

I am starting to get more accustomed to the weather here, but thank goodness for the winter months. I’ve seen the 70s for the first time since arriving in Asia and I only saw 78°! The rain has been interesting, however. It mostly rains at night which is good, but one morning I woke up to the street flooded in the picture above. I completely soaked my socks and shoes. There really wasn’t another option! I’ve also witnessed 45 minutes rain showers while it is fun sunlight. Interesting stuff!

I look forward to Sundays with a lot of enthusiasm not only because it’s the one rest day from training, but because I get to get out of my apartment and go to church! This Sunday didn’t disappoint! We had a quick service at the church in town and then the whole congregation caravaned an hour north of the city to have a special service for a member who just had a new house built. The couple takes in orphan children and does a lot of other really great outreach. This second house next to their first will bless a lot of lives I’m sure! They have a fair amount of property and banana trees and a lot of other fruits growing in the yard.

The food at the get together was amazing! I haven’t had a feast like this my entire time in Asia! The portion sizes in these countries have been so small, so I really enjoyed the opportunity to eat as much I want. It’s also an amazing blessing to enjoy the Christian fellowship!

After another quick service we hit the road home. I was super blessed to be given a bicycle by the family there, so threw that in the back of the truck. I had been looking for a bike, so this was a great find. Having a bicycle should really increase my ability to explore! I have a whole list of local spots in Chiang Mai I want to explore.

Next blog post will likely be about my side hustles to make some side cash while settled here. Thanks for reading!

After busing a crossed three countries I decided on a plane for my journey away from island paradise to northern Tha city life. The flight only cost about $60 and saved me probably 30 hours of busing. Seemed worth it!

I arrived at night and made my way to a hostel I had booked. The next morning I got up with a specific mission. This was my day to scout out potential Muay Thai gyms to train at. So I rented a bicycle and began my rounds. I stopped at 4 gyms and likely recorded over 20 miles while riding precariously on the major high ways, through traffic. Shout out to my guardian angels!

There were two gyms that really seemed like a good fit for me. The other gyms we’re either too touristy or pricey. I wanted to be at a gym that had the level of trainers and also other students that would help me become better. Iron sharpens iron, and that is what I was going for. Between the two that interested me I chose the one that was closer to the WELS started congregation in the city. That way I could make it a priority to get involved in the church there. The other gym did have an incredible level of talent with fighters contending for world titles. However, I had to keep my priorities in the right places.

I settled at Team Quest. It’s near the airport there and has a massive 5 story shopping mall near it. That gives me options for entertainment and shopping in between training. Also it’s free AC!
I am currently living in an apartment and I’m going to do a post exaining how I got it and giving a little tour soon. In the meantime I wanted to fill everyone in on what I’ve been exploring in the city so far!

I don’t have any training pictures or videos, and might not for a while. No body wants to be the new guy at the gym who looks like he’s just training so he can get some cool Instagram pictures. There was a photographer going around the other day so we’ll see when I come up with some photos of the gym and training.

In my spare time I managed to make it out to a Chiang Mai FC game. It was the last of the season! If you look in the picture below you can see me on the far right sneaking into a photo that appeared on their Facebook page. Next to me is a friend I met at the game. He had decent English and he and his friends offered me snacks while we watched together. He was from the hill tribes further north he told me and the snack he shared was what looked like acorns, but were some type of delicious nut. I had to crack them open with my teeth to get the tasty innards out. I have found Thais are some of the nicest people on the planet. Most will do anything to help you out, especially if you look lost or confused!

The niceness continued as I felt welcomed into the church service this Sunday. I had stopped by earlier when I was on my bike tour, but no one with passable English was there. I had a funny conversation with one of the guys there none the less! For my WELS readers the church services actually take place in the same building as the Thai Village. For those that don’t know Thai Village is a program that helps get local Thai people into a job making craft jewelry and knick knacks to sell for income. I toured around and I was impressed by the products! 

You can take a look at their products and help support the people here with a purchase at https://thaivillage.org.

The time leading up to finding a gym and apartment had been pretty stressful and I was starting to feel a little homesick. It’s pretty easy to feel lonely when all your friends and family are halfway a crossed the world. I had this on my heart heading to church and it never ceases to blow my mind how a church service and hearing God’s word can change everything.

We were singing a hymn, well I was trying to humm along since it was in Thai, but it sounded so beautiful. I was caught thinking about home. They had the English lyrics under the Thai lyrics and the one line said something along the lines of “wherever you go God has journeyed with you.” I had tears welling up in my eyes. Even though everything was going on in another language that is all I needed to hear. That alone reminded me that God is always with me and always will be. That comfort reminded me of the things I had learned growing up from my parents, from church, and from going to a Lutheran high school. Because of that comfort, home suddenly didn’t seem so far.

That is a service I will never forget. I got to meet some incredible people and I was lucky to have the retired missionary next to me to help translate and get the main message a crossed during the service. Just another instance of Thais being friendly, but more importantly of the power of Christian fellowship. My friends and family may be on the other side of the globe, but I now have my own friends and family right here.